Domino is a type of game piece or card that has a distinctively shaped base. It is normally made from a thick material such as bone, silver lip ocean pearl oyster shell (mother of pearl), ivory or a dark hardwood such as ebony, with contrasting black or white pips on one face.
When a domino is tapped ever so slightly with a finger, it releases potential energy, which converts into kinetic energy and causes the rest of the set to fall over in a cascade of rhythmic movement. This energy travels to the next domino, providing the push that knocks it over and continues in this fashion until all of the pieces have fallen. This is known as the Domino Effect.
While the term domino is most commonly associated with the game, it has a variety of other uses. In business, it can be used to describe a chain of events that results in a significant change. It can also be used to refer to the management style of a corporation, with its emphasis on listening to employees and taking their concerns into consideration.
Traditionally, dominoes are played by two or more players on a large rectangular board. The tiles are arranged in rows and columns, with one end of each tile bearing a pattern of dots or spots, reminiscent of the numbering on a die. The other side of the tile is blank or identically patterned. Most sets are designed to accommodate a maximum of twenty-four different combinations of ends and therefore of tiles. Increasingly, however, larger sets are being introduced to allow more players to play games.
In addition to the traditional blocking and scoring games, dominoes can be used in positional games. In these, a player places a domino edge to edge against another, ensuring that the adjacent faces match in either their pips or total (for example, 5 to 5, 12 to 12, etc.).
Alternatively, a domino can be placed in the center of the board to form a “pip-less” position, which is used for counting and other games. In some cases, a domino is also used as the starting point for a race, in which each player attempts to place their dominoes in such a way that they form the smallest possible count.
Many people use the domino image to refer to a sequence of events that result in a significant change, often for the better. Whether you are a pantser who writes off the cuff or an outliner who takes your time plotting with software like Scrivener, thinking of scenes in terms of the domino effect can help you ensure that your story moves forward in a coherent and compelling manner. For instance, if your heroine uncovers a clue that leads to the solution to the mystery she is investigating but in the next scene that clue doesn’t get utilized, you need to ask yourself why. A good rule of thumb is that if the scene doesn’t add to the momentum of the story, it’s not necessary or effective.